L’Tric

Been great so far. We’ve had a bit of breathing space between releases so there’s been time to work on a bunch of new music. We’ve worked on a couple of collaborations and worked with some really interesting vocalists, including a few who were pretty much there at the birth of house music.

What was the first thing you listened to today and the reasons for playing it?
It was Teddy Pendergrass – You Can’t Hide From Yourself (Dimitri From Paris Disco Blend). And the reason is that it was the first track on the Glitterbox podcast (which by the way is a new favourite… great job Defected!) played during my morning exercise.

How did you both come together as L’Tric?

We’ve been mates for a long time, and DJ’d at some of the same nights and parties in Melbourne and around Australia over the years also. We’ve always been one or two genres removed in terms of what we were producing and playing, but during a chance studio session in LA about 2 years ago we discovered a shared passion for 90s piano house, which led to the production of our first single ‘This Feeling’… and a steady flow of new material and remixes ever since.

We’re loving your new single ‘The Way You Are,’ with vocalist LVL. How did you find working with him?

We’d almost given up on that record because we’d tried so many different vocalists and toplines on it and none of them were sticking. LVL ended up being right under our noses as a friend of our manager, and also being based in Melbourne. We knew that he’d nailed it after hearing just the first verse! He has a very distinct voice and we hope to get him on a few more things forthcoming.

What was it like to receive support from Avicii, Pete Tong, Danny Howard and other stars?

It’s always good to receive early support from guys like that as so many DJs look to them for what’s next. Pete especially given his continued iconic status. We both used to get tapes of the Essential Selection in the 90s to hear what was being played on the show, and wait for those records to hit the vinyl stores in Australia about 6 months later!

The track first surfaced as an instrumental at last year’s Amsterdam Dance Event. How has momentum gathered pace since?

It’s been the definition of a slow burner! Obviously it’s much harder to get traction on an instrumental track as opposed to something with a full vocal, but as the months went by we kept getting messages from DJ’s telling us the track was their secret weapon. Chris Lake and Robbie Rivera were 2 that were giving it a lot of love in the US especially. We’d always thought it’d potentially be great with a vocal on it, so that was the next move.

A lot of your style echoes the glory days of the 90s, was this something you wanted to incorporate into the single?

Definitely. We both have very fond memories of those days given that we started our careers right in that time period. We’re both studio geeks so it’s been a lot of fun resurrecting some of the techniques and workflows that we used back in the 90s to try and bring that authenticity and character to our current records.

More than ever these days Melbourne is a thriving hotspot for ambitious DJs and producers, what have you noticed over the years from the city?

Melbourne is a great place to be an electronic producer. For a relatively small city there is a huge range of diversity and a deep talent pool. Being so isolated distant wise from dance music hot spots around the world also gives many of the local producers a huge drive and ambition to export their sound and succeed in those places too. We also enjoy more freedom in terms of club operating hours and personal liberties that many living in other Australian cities do not.

Three records that have got you off your seats recently?

1. Weiss – You Better Run. We are huge fans of this guy, especially when he gets his piano vibe on. This is one of his best.
2. Risqué – The Kisser. Sounds like it could’ve been on Roule or Crydamoure around 1999, but with those 2017 sonics. Tight tune.
3. Kaz James – Arizona. Another one out of Melbourne. All about the strings in this… just a straight up solid club record.

Any exciting plans in store for the rest of the year?

Lots of releases lined up so we’re excited to see where those take us. In the short term we have new remixes of The Way You Are about to drop from Todd Terry and Pirupa so look out for those!